Second Wave
by angelarms
Summary: The Master Chief and the rest of Blue team find themselves placed in a difficult situation, dropped into the heart of Covenant forces and with a rescue mission to accomplish, will anyone get out alive?


Author's Note: This is not my first fic, but it is my first one based on Halo. Depending on the kind of response I get will also help me decide whether I will continue this or not so leave comments if you would like to, constructive critisism is very much welcome too.

To those who have read my work before I would also like to apologise for not writing anything in such a long time, and also it'd be helpful if you read the update section in my profile as that is where I leave my status and explanations. Feel free to email me if you have any problems or what not.

Disclaimer: obviously I don't own Halo or anything to do with it, this has been written strictly for fan purposes because let's face it, Halo is one of the best games ever made.

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"Calculating now Chief." Cortana's cool and distinctly feminine voice flowed through the remnants of the Spartan's mind as he lowered his body and pressed his back up against the nearest wall, his form melting into the shadows around him. He could hear the slight movements of his fellow team-mates who were waiting for his command and then the silence consumed them all.

When Cortana spoke again her voice had been lowered to a mere whisper and the Chief could have sworn there was a nervous tone intertwined with her words. "This isn't good." "Spill it." He muttered and almost instantly a map flared up on his HUD display showing the surrounding area they had been dropped in. His eyes scanned the map quickly, it was a rough terrain of mainly forest which spread thickly from the south and snaked upwards towards the north-west. To the east was a winding river which wound down from rolling valleys and meandered off through the centre of the forest. To the west was the camp they were here to protect or destroy - depending on the situation.

"The forest is being patrolled by Grunts and Jackals." Cortana continued, her voice now steady as she listed the dangers to him. "They shouldn't be too much trouble if we can evade them but¼they are heavy in number and we certainly don't have enough ammunition for them all."

"I wouldn't suggest we try and take them all down Cortana, continue please." The Master Chief was all too aware that this mission was going to be difficult, but he and his team had dealt with this sort of thing before and he wasn't about to lose to a bunch of those vicious little covenant Grunts. They had come prepared for a stealth mission and he was not about to order his fellow Spartans into battle when they had no chance of success. Even stupid Grunts could be lethal when in large numbers and a belly full of hot needles was not something the Chief wanted to experience.

"The valley fort is no more, it has taken heavy damage and I estimate that at least two hundred covenant troops are there." Cortana continued.  
"So evade the valley at all costs, simple enough considering our destination is to the west." The chief made a light shrug and the map flickered from his Heads Up Display. He ignored any protest Cortana might have made, opening up the line to confirm to his team. "We're heading out, keep in close formation and no slacking, there are a lot of those Covenant bastards out there." He closed the line once more and shifted from his position, noting the four acknowledgment lights that winked on in his HUD. Straightening his back he pulled himself up and out of the half collapsed building they had been huddled in and out into open space.

"Weapon and ammo check." He barked once they were all gathered together, his eyes scanning each and every one of them. They were travelling light and were only five in total including himself, but when they had Cortana with them their odds were increased immensely. Linda stood with a 14.5MM armor-piercing sniper rifle clasped in her hands along with three grenades strapped to her belt and as much ammunition as she could carry without slowing her movement too much. Kelly stood close to his side, visor up to reveal her cool features to the rest of the team-mates, it took a lot to get her scared and the Chief was glad she was with him. Everyone else but Linda carried with them a silenced assault rifle, a number of grenades and pistols for more accurate shooting. The Master Chief however made sure that one of them had brought enough C4 to cause a bit of commotion and he himself had a shotgun with 3 additional magazines.

Once again he brought the map up onto his HUD, showing it this time to his team-mates and drawing up a path for them all to see. "We'll enter the forest briefly until we come to the river, from there we'll go west until we reach this gorge. Remember these co-ordinates, if things get messy this is our rendezvous point." He paused and enlarged the specified area. "Reports have shown the area is secure for now but remember Spartans, not everything goes to plan." "Sir!" "Question?" "The terrain does not seem to offer me any opportunities to use my weapon." It was Linda who spoke, her voice a little tense as she observed the map.  
"Quite the contrary, the gorge here." He highlighted the area on the map, "has a cliff that I've been told is easily reachable. From that point you should have an excellent view of the surrounding area." He then returned the map to its full view and continued tracing the line up to the camp. Their destination. "Once we reach the outskirts I'll give you a more detailed briefing, for now, all you need to know is that if there are survivors our goal is to protect. If not then--" "You are ordered to destroy." Cortana ended for him with a pleased tone.

Moments later and the Spartans had shifted into single file, Kelly in lead and Master Chief bringing up the rear as they crossed the short distance across open land. They moved almost as one, their large, heavy forms moving silently across the rubble which had once been a large fort that had housed a great number of soldiers and intelligent personnel. The bodies of the dead had been buried soon after the first wave by late reinforcements, and the original survivors of the attack had raced for their lives through the forest before creating a stronghold in the west.

The Chief found it hard to believe that anyone could have survived such an attack, especially now that the reports he had read were now coming to life before his eyes. Articles of tattered and bloodied clothing flapped in the wind like flags of the dead, rubble of felled buildings lay scattered across the ground, shattered glass and ammunition peppered the area and even now tendrils of smoke rose up from the debris, caused by trapped fires that had been burning for days.

A warthog lay tipped on one side, a blackened carcass so torn up it would have been unrecognisable to one who didn't know what it was. Nerves flittered through John's stomach as the image of a hunter flashed through his mind, their firepower was enough to do this sort of damage, it could melt through even the toughest material and burn through the shields on his armor like it was paper.

He maintained a tighter grip on his assault rifle and focused on the job at hand - reach the forest.

"Cortana." He was dimly aware that the AI had been a little more quiet than usual since this mission had been assigned. "Yes Chief?" "Can you calculate the odds of survivors?" "Of course¼" There was a brief pause, the cool feeling that usually consumed the Chief's mind withdrew for a brief second and then it returned. "It's not good." She replied, "there is 95.47 chance that all survivors have been killed." "Very well." John knew that the chances were slim but a mission was a mission and where there were covenant to be killed he would be in the frontlines filling their ugly features with lead. This is what he had been trained for after all.

His radar blinked and a motion from Kelly brought them crouching down behind a fallen pillar of stone, then with slow precision the Master Chief threaded the fibre-optic probe up and over the rocks, turning it slowly to scan the edge of the forest. At first he saw nothing, the trees swayed in the wind, their leaves rustling together and filling the air with a pleasant and natural sound. Then suddenly his eyes picked up something moving in the depths, his exceptional eyesight able to pick out the stubby forms of Grunts as they marched towards them. They wore shiny armor coloured bright orange and in their chunky and well clawed hands they held needlers and plasma pistols, both annoyingly painful weapons.

To his relief however there didn't seem to be an Elite in sight, instead they seemed to be led by two jackals who were protecting their flanks with plasma pistols and those ever annoying shields which flared into life as they left the protection of the trees.

He opened the channel to Blue team.

"Patrol ahead, at least ten Grunts and two Jackals." He paused and double checked before bringing the image up onto his team-mates' HUDs "We can't afford to be spotted so early in. I suggest immediate evasion."

Acknowledgment lights winked on and he retrieved the optic probe, lowering himself further and combat-crawling across the dusty ground. The others followed him slowly, keeping themselves hidden behind the debris, suddenly thankful that they had the cover to protect them from sharp Covenant eyes. The Master Chief made quite sure that his MJOLNIR suit had masked his body temperature before continuing, making it clear to the others to make sure they had done the same. There would be no excuse if they got caught out over something so easily camouflaged.

The guttural barks of the Grunts could be heard clearly now, and the stomp of their wide feet on the ground as they marched together was easily recognisable. The taller bird-like Jackals paused in their stride and chattered angrily to the shorter Grunts, strange piercing eyes whirling as they raised their heads to screech in annoyance. It seemed they were having an argument of some kind, perhaps trying to gain more authority over the little dog-like beasts that were looking a little aggravated.

"Split up." The Master Chief whispered over the channel, "Blue 2 and 3 with me. The others head left." He indicated with one hand and then pushed himself up onto his knees, reaching up to wipe the dust from his visor. Their lights winked once more and Blue team split, moving slowly up beside the little group of arguing aliens.

The three Spartans - Master Chief included - shuffled forwards, keeping low to the ground and assault rifles in hands as they moved over to crouch behind the half-melted Warthog. By now the patrol of Grunts and Jackals had moved closer towards them, their argument obviously over as they began to scavenge the rubble. What they were looking for Spartan 117 didn't care, all he knew was that if the beats didn't move on soon it was going to be difficult for them to reach the trees. Even light-footed Kelly would be hard pressed for time to reach the boundary and he knew he could never match her in speed.

His fingers twitched as he reached down, hand hovering above a grenade as he tried to decide whether or not to take them out with a single explosion when suddenly he received an incoming message. He opened the link and Kelly's voice crackled over the speaker. "We've got more company Chief." She whispered and he glanced over to where the two were located and followed her gesture back to the trees.

"Cortana, how many?" "Twenty Grunts¼two Elites."

The Chief cursed.

The sound of an Elite's deep voice erupted from the trees and a tall armoured alien came into view, glistening blue armor shining in the sunlight as it raised its plasma rifle and jabbed it angrily at the group of Jackals and Grunts that had arrived before them. Things couldn't get much worse and John's hand gripped the first grenade of three that was attached to his waist. It would be best to get the first attack in, take them by surprise and finish off the group before they could call for reinforcements.

He steadied his arm and waited, it wouldn't be long now. The rest of the Grunts and the second Elite soon came into view, the tallest and stronger aliens barking orders in their strange language as they kicked and jabbed viciously at the smaller counterparts. For a moment it seemed that maybe they were going to tear each other apart but then suddenly everyone seemed to realise their rank and settled down, preparing to continue out whatever mission they had been given.

It was now or never! John activated the frag grenade and with a fluid motion tossed it up and over the warthog, watching as it arched almost elegantly through the air and landed amongst the gathering of aliens. There was a slight ringing as it hit the ground and then suddenly the explosion ripped through them, their shrieks tearing through the air as they were consumed by its flaming greed. The ground beneath the Chief's feet shook violently but he paid no heed to it, signalling quickly for the others to make for the trees.

"Chief, one elite is still showing life readings, I suggest you take it out and quickly." Cortana's voice urgently rang through his mind and wasting no time at all he dashed over to the pile of steaming carcasses, pausing beside the blue Elite who was twitching and writing in agony. It wasn't a pretty sight. Half of its armoured body had been blown apart by the explosion, it's sticky blood staining the ground around it. It's eyes were whirling with shock and rage, and at seeing the tall Spartan looming over it, the creature growled, it's strange mouth opening as if it could tear into the Chief's flesh. Instead it found its jaws locking around the cold hard steel of an assault rifle.

John squeezed the trigger and emptied the creature's skull of its innards.

"I suggest getting out of here quickly Chief." Cortana stressed the words, a note of nervousness once again wrapped with her tone. "Agreed." He replied and double-timed it to where his team waited in the undergrowth for their leader to catch up. They were kneeling down beside the bushes in a rough circle, weapons in hand as they watched the Chief approach. 117 turned back to give the corpses another look before kneeling down to complete the circle.

"What now Chief?" Fred spoke up over the channel, tapping the assault rifle against his knee. The Master Chief regarded his team-mates for a moment longer, the silence drawing out for much longer than he had meant it to.

"We carry out our orders, fall into line Spartans!"

* * *

to be continued... 


End file.
